


Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 17, Turn Turn Turn

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e17 Turn Turn Turn, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 13:33:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17488964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode, later seasons, and potentially other MCU works. Complete.





	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 17, Turn Turn Turn

Open to an awesome scene of peppy music playing as Garrett chills in the cockpit with a book and mug.

Then, drones appear, and turning off the music, he radios in asking if the drones are friendlies.

Well, judging by their attempts to kill him, probably not. Though, with the type of friend he is, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone was all, ‘Hey, this is the perfect time to get some payback. I’mma gonna wreck his plane. I’ll just be make double-sure that he has a parachute before he leaves.’

Over to Coulson’s plane, May is disarmed, and she truthfully insists the plane being re-routed isn’t her doing. She does know it’s likely SHIELD taking remote control, but she doesn’t know why.

Coulson asks about her having the encrypted hardline, and Fitz adds, “And tried to shoot me!”

Good, Fitz. However, it’s a shame this is, as far as I know, never brought up in future episodes.

May says she’s been reporting to Fury, and she can’t say more due to orders.

“What, was this an order? To shoot me in the bloody head?”

When May tries to turn things around by pointing out Fitz was in the walls, Fitz admits he wanted to talk to Simmons privately about nu!Faith’s blood and the drug they injected her with.

He isn’t snarky about how he wouldn’t have chased any of them with a gun if they’d found out under different circumstances, but I sure would be.

Going further: May is telling the truth here. She’s been talking to Fury, and she has orders not to tell anyone what these conversations are about.

Fine.

Yet, her attempting to shoot an unarmed member of her own team just because he found out she was privately talking to their mutual boss, not even about anything the content of these conversations, either says she’s an unstable borderline sociopath, she and Fury are up to something very bad, or both.

Even if the gun was just an icier, then, the most plausible reasons for her using it would be: She wanted him unconscious so that she could kill and dispose of the body in a different way than using a regular gun, or she was planning to restrain and torture him in order to find out if he had discovered the contents/‘persuade’ him to keep quiet about what he’d learned.

Which again, refer to her or both her and Fury being extremely dangerous, ill-intentioned individual(s).

Coulson orders Fitz to open the door, and if it were me, I would absolutely refuse.

I would move as far away from the door as I could, and if there was anything I could use as a weapon, I’d grab it and warn the others, if they breached the door, I would attempt to defend myself with as much force as I could muster. And if they ended up killed, it would fall strictly under the heading of self-defence.

Fitz isn’t me, and he decides to open the door so that the agent it has been established is an absolute master at disarming people has a chance at disarming both of the agents, one of whom has her back to her, and using their weapons to kill him and them.

May doesn’t, likely because, again, she does genuinely care for Coulson and nu!Faith, but I don’t believe for a second she wouldn’t have an extremely high chance at succeeding if she did try.

After nu!Faith enters the lab, Coulson demands to know who Simmons is talking to. If it’s not someone they trust, she’s in serious danger.

Answer cut to Simmons and Trip. She’s trying to hide the fact she’s studying nu!Faith’s blood, and Trip greatly irritates me here.

In response to his words, Simmons says she’s studying nu!Faith’s blood, but this fact has to stay between them and another doctor (not Fitz) she wants to covertly contact.

He agrees to help her on the condition, if they get caught, she keeps her unable to sell a lie to save her own life mouth firmly shut, and this part, I don’t have a problem with.

Back on the plane, Coulson still has a gun on May. Nu!Faith isn’t getting anything on the computer, and then, Garrett comes through. He tells them about SHIELD drones attacking him, and since everything else is going to hell, Coulson’s willing to believe this probably isn’t someone exacting relatively harmless payback on Garrett.

So, he straight up shoots May. It’s established later this was an icier, but I’m not sure if he used her gun or if he got an icier himself off-screen. I do believe he was telling the truth when he made his quip about his not being an icier. If he used hers, then, she was telling the truth.

One thing I have always liked about this show is it’s usually really good at showing not telling. At the same time, there are times when I do think a little more telling wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Next, Coulson and Fitz drop the unconscious, handcuffed May in Grant’s interrogation room, and before they leave, Coulson explains she’s been reporting on them.

It’s interesting Grant doesn’t (try to) kill her now and try to spin it as, ‘Yeah, she woke up, tried to kill me, and I defended myself.’ I’m glad he didn’t, I just find it interesting. Obviously, May has Main Character Plot Armour, but is this due to him having some genuine respect/fondness for her, or did he simply deem it too risky?

After this, Coulson manages to destroy the drones attempting to kill Garrett with Fitz trying to backseat pilot.

I know this wasn’t intended, but: I kind of get the feeling Hand hated Garrett even before the reveal. The idea she was like, ‘Yes, and Garrett is obviously an ally of Coulson. Bring him in or shoot him down. It’s very important we eliminate/neutralise him as fast as possible,’ is semi-plausible to me.

It’d be even better if people were like, ‘But he and Coulson are more frenemies than actual friends, and he wouldn’t even be near Coulson if not for us setting Coulson’s plane in his direction,’ and she’s all, ‘No, he’s definitely Hydra, we must kill him.’

Then, cue her being, ‘What? I was right? Great, if I’d actually known this sooner...’

As it, Hand does count Garrett being on the plane they’re planning to kill everyone inside as a win, and when one of the men expresses basic human uneasiness and regret about having to kill other agents, she makes it clear it’s kill or be killed.

Back to the plane, nu!Faith is trying to decode a transmission, and entering, Garrett wants to know what’s going on with the whole SHIELD is trying to kill both him and them thing. Him, he can understand, but them… He also tells them their trajectory indicates they’re being dragged to the Hub.

Coulson suggests Hand is the clairvoyant, and making it clear he’s not her biggest fan, Garrett nevertheless expresses scepticism. Then, the transmission reveals itself to be a calling card from Hydra.

Paxton did great at the little moment of levity with Garrett thinking it was cut off a ‘leg’ rather a ‘head’ in regards to Hydra.

I’m not sure how much of Garrett being somewhat inattentive and selective in his hearing is real and how much is a mask, but either way, he’s definitely made it work for him.

Garrett suggests they parachute out of the plane, but when everyone brings up Simmons being at the Hub, the delivery for, “Oh, crap, yeah. Trip’s there, too,” is perfect.

It’s like, ‘Oh, right, someone I (allegedly) sort of care about is also in danger. Forgot all about ‘em. Well, I guess I maybe better try to save them.’

He suggests Ward and May be let out, and I’m not sure if this a plot hole or a clue. How did he know about May being locked up? Or did he assume she’s babysitting Grant during all this? He says, “your specialist _ **s**_ ,” so, he’s not simply referring to Grant.

At the Hub, people are being rounded up, and Hand is told Simmons and Trip are missing.

Over to them, they manage to contact Fitzsimmons’ doctor friend, and there’s chaos on her end. She tells Simmons to get somewhere safe and trust no one.

Naturally, after the call ends, Trip terrifies Simmons by locking the door and producing a knife.

In his defence for the first, he was doing what the doctor told Simmons to do.

He gives the knife to her. “If you try to kill me with it, I’ll know I can’t trust you.”

Yeah, but all it’d take was her getting lucky, and you’ve bled out.

I don’t necessarily object to him doing this, but the line falls flat for me.

On the plane, May wakes up, and Grant isn’t happy the person he’s been spying on has been spying on him.

When The Well came, I didn’t know how I felt about Grant/May happening, but I was willing to give it a chance. Then, Yes Men happened, and that was the beginning of the end of me having any sort of interest in May’s character.

Ming-Na Wen has shown herself to be an extremely talented actress in other projects, and I don’t have any complaints about her acting in this series. However, the Melinda May she talks about isn’t who I see on-screen. The character a large chunk of fandom loves, even before Yes Men, I’ve never saw her.

The character I see isn’t morally ambiguous. She’s not reserved with some tragic issues. She’s a straight-up borderline sociopath who does numerous horrible things that she is rarely ever called on.

Thankfully, this scene is relatively short.

Coulson comes in to tell her that the line to Fury has been fixed.

Meanwhile, the plane is brought into the Hub.

As people outside are shooting at the plane, Coulson threatens May into calling Fury, and Grant doesn’t even act surprised to see Garrett. He simply asks what’s going on with the whole plane currently being shot at thing.

Garrett’s like, ‘Yeah, so, we’re seeing if we can frame Hand for being the clairvoyant, now.’

Over at the phone, May and Coulson are informed Fury is dead, and Coulson bodily shields May from bullets.

Interestingly, Grant shields nu!Faith, and Garrett takes cover all on his own.

In the next scene, everyone’s preparing for what to do next, and Grant asks Garrett if it could be true Fury’s really dead. Garrett expresses his doubt.

Elsewhere on the plane, Coulson is removing a bullet May took, and she explains it was her job to make sure his resurrection didn’t come with a helping of unstoppable insanity. Also, he only thinks he selected this team. In reality, she and Fury selected it for him and guided him into thinking it was his own idea.

There’s a moment where she almost declares her love, and I’d be more invested if I actually liked, respected, or even found either of these characters interesting.

Grant appears, and May realises the shooting has stopped due to a desire to preserve the plane.

Coulson, nu!Faith, and Grant talk about what needs to preserved as nu!Faith is backing up everything on a hard-drive in preparation to scrub the plane’s computers. Grant mentions the gravitonium, and Coulson reveals it’s unlabelled underneath the Fridge.

Meanwhile, Simmons and Trip are captured.

The plane is raided, but everyone’s already out. Nu!Faith gives the drive to Grant, Garrett is more focused on taking out Hand than saving Simmons and Trip, and Coulson makes it clear the cuffs are staying on May. There’s splitting up.

In the lab, Hand appears, and she demands Trip and Simmons swear loyalty to Hydra.

Trip has a counter-offer: He’ll grab one of Hand’s men, and if they kill him and Simmons, one of their own dies, too.

Since Hand isn’t Hydra, this works, and she’s like, ‘Congratulations on passing the test. Still hate your mentor, though, and still think hers is actually Hydra.’

Elsewhere, some of Hand’s others are tricked by Coulson, Fitz, May, and Garrett.

Back to Hand, Simmons insists Coulson isn’t Hydra, and Hand correctly points out Simmons is defending a man who has kept secrets from his entire team along with all the other things Coulson has done and some of the bad things that’ve happened in part because of his actions and lack thereof.

Going over to nu!Faith and Grant, they have a nice moment. Dalton and Bennet did have good chemistry before the reveal happened. They agree Grant will take on a hallway full of armed men, and afterwards, they’ll get a drink. Then, they kiss, and Grant takes out the hallway.

This was a great action scene.

Meanwhile, Garrett is gunning to kill Hand, Fitz is mostly concerned with finding Simmons, and Coulson and May are like, ‘No, no more assassinations on potential clairvoyants. We will capture and question her like we should have done with the last supposed clairvoyant.’

I don’t blame Clark Gregg for my dislike of Coulson. He’s a really good actor, and I think I said in an earlier review: Even though I didn’t, I could see why fandom embraced Coulson so thoroughly during the first Avengers movie.

Here, Gregg does an excellent job. Coulson is truly everything Coulson is purported to be but rarely actually is.

The fact Coulson is so rarely what Coulson was apparently meant to be makes it so much worse when scenes like this happen.

Garrett keeps trying to convince them, and he ends up saying too much.

Personally, I find it awesome how, if Garrett had really tried, he might have been able to save his cover, but after making a half-hearted token effort, he simply gives up.

The room’s raided, Coulson tries to get them to take Garrett, but invoking Sitwell’s name, Garrett gets the Hydra members to shoot the non-Hydra members minus Coulson and company.

“Hail Hydra,” is his casual response.

“Hail Hydra!” the others echo.

Heh.

After Coulson and comp. are restrained, Garrett reveals what a true psychopath he is, and man, did Paxton do an amazing job. Sure, his character is a terrible person, but in terms of being fun to watch, Garrett is great.

All four actors do wonderful, but there’s this moment where Iain De Caestecker knocks it out of the park. Handcuffed Fitz is crying, he might literally be unable wipe his own eyes, but he still has the bravery and anger to tell Garrett off.

Just as Garrett is about to have the three shot, nu!Faith and Grant’s actions outside stop him. Hee.

You’d think Garrett could have texted Grant or something.

Eventually, Hand and her agents stroll in, and it’s revealed she received a transmission of the whole thing.

Next, Hydra is being arrested, and nu!Faith and Ward roll up. He’s reasonably happy, and then, he sees Garrett in cuffs and witnesses Trip yelling and being restrained from attacking Garrett. There is this moment where Trip sees Grant, and there’s a tiny bit of empathy on Trip’s part.

Grant is sort of like, ‘Uh, why is my mentor in cuffs?’

There’s a great moment where May silently shows something less than contempt when she glances at him, and pulling him aside, Coulson gently explains things, though, what anyone actually says isn’t heard.

Everyone but Bennet does a good job here. I’m not sure what she going for, but nu!Faith making this incredibly derpy face at Grant is what happens.

Afterwards, Hand and Coulson are talking about what happened in Winter Soldier, and the discussion turns to Garrett. Grant appears, and he wants to be the one to shove Garrett into a deep, dark, dank cell. He’s angry and hurt by Garrett’s betrayal, and he blames himself for never realising it.

I’m not sure how much all of these emotions are an act. I do think he is somewhat conflicted due to genuine fondness for the team. He has a fairly clear idea what getting Garrett out is going to eventually cost. But at the same time, in his view, Garrett is more important than any concept of right and wrong, and now, these people have Garrett.

He probably is angry at Garrett, them, and himself. He’s hurt at the prospect of losing the team Garrett sent him to infiltrate. And he’s blaming himself, because, if he’d done something different, something better, maybe, it wouldn’t have come to this.

It’s agreed he can escort Garrett to the Fridge with Hand, and Hand and Coulson have a nice moment of two people with a rocky history fully forming a bond of solitary.

Then, Garrett is escorted away in cuffs with Hand and Grant following, and Grant looks back at Coulson.

There’s a scene of the others all on the damaged plane. Coulson says May isn’t a friend but is an ally. Then, he announces survival rather than trying to protect the world from Hydra is top-priority.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d place my survival and the survival of my loved ones above stopping an evil organisation that helped give rise to the Nazis, too, but then, I’m not an agent of anything. I’ve never taken an oath to protect innocent people and/or defend any ideals. It’s literally not my job to uphold law and order.

In a later episode, Coulson does have a good speech about protecting people regardless of who’s trying to take they themselves down, but it would have been a lot better here instead of his ‘survive at all costs’ response.

On a different plane, Hand makes clear how much she utterly despises Garrett, and then, showing it’s not Hydra responsible for most, if any, of the questionable things the so-called heroes do, she offers Grant the chance to execute a declared guilty with no trial, physically restrained person.

Instead, Grant executes her, and it’s worth noting: From this moment on, he’s portrayed as strictly a villain.

After this, Grant is a mixture of dead-eyed and quietly resolved, and Dalton did brilliantly with Grant’s last look directly into the camera as Garrett is cheerfully chattering off-screen in what might be an audio loop of when Garrett was talking to Coulson in the car last episode.

There’s not going to much, if any, ranting during Providence. There might be a lot of gushing, though, about Garrett and Grant’s interactions.

Fin.


End file.
